Two Months
by outlaw author
Summary: Captain Archer's safe, two week visit to a new planet turns into something much longer and much less fun. UPDATED! Some minor editing done to the prologue and chapter one, chapter two finally added!
1. prologue

**Disclaimer:** I have no authorization on any level to use these characters, but I am, and I intend no copyright infringement by doing so. Everything except Gwen belongs to someone else.

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**Two Months**

_prologue_

Jonathan Archer strode rapidly through the corridors of the starship _Enterprise_, hoping to outdistance his Science Officer. But despite the fact that he was a good deal taller than T'Pol, he was finding it difficult to get very far ahead of her.

"Captain, I do not see the need for—" she continued her protests as they came in sight of Shuttlepod One. Trip looked up as they approached and caught his friend's eye, giving him a sympathetic look. Jon grinned at him in response, before turning to face the Vulcan woman following him.

"Nevertheless, I am going, _Sub-Commander_," he said, emphasizing her rank, "And that's final."

T'Pol broke off then, recognizing the look and tone of voice that signified that the Captain had made up his mind and would not be persuaded to do otherwise, no matter how logical the argument given.

"Well, Trip," the Captain continued, turning back to his Chief Engineer, "is everything ready to go?"

"You betcha, Cap'n. We ran our last diagnostic check on 'er not ten minutes ago. She's all set! And I took the liberty of loadin' yer bags for ya."

"Thanks, Trip," he returned warmly, before giving his attention to the young woman standing just behind the engineer. "And thank _you_, Ensign Cutler, for being willing to take care of Porthos."

The petite brunette made light of it, "Oh, it's my pleasure, sir. Not a problem at all."

Archer bent down slightly to fondle the beagle she held in her arms. "No, it won't be a problem, will it, Porthos?" he said, looking into his dog's eyes as he spoke. The dog seemed to catch onto his meaning and shook his head to the side, causing Archer to chuckle and Cutler to grin. He gave Porthos one last pat, ordering him to "be good."

"Step in, Novakovich," the Captain said, gesturing to the shuttlepod. "T'Pol, you're in command during my absence." The Vulcan inclined her head to acknowledge his order. Looking around one last time, he nodded at everyone there. "See you in two weeks!" With that, he stepped into the shuttlepod and pulled the door closed behind him.

* * *

The peaceful calm of night was shattered when a line of fire trailed across the broad expanse of starry sky above. It was in sight for only seconds before it buried itself behind the tree line. Then the stars swirled and merged until they became two bright points and the points softened to become eyes and a face emerged. The face showed wisdom, compassion and a yearning to understand. Soon, though, it was blotted out by the red stain of blood, and a woman's scream pierced the silence of the night.

Gwen awoke with a jerk, her body literally drenched with sweat, her heart pounding, her chest heaving and her eyes wide open. Pushing damp strands of dark hair off her forehead with trembling fingers, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply to calm her racing heart. The dreams were back, she realized, as fragments of that night's dream returned to her. She fell back onto her mattress, images running through her head. There was fire, she remembered, and a man's face and then blood. The familiar tingling coursed through her body, but by now she knew better than to act right away. Time would tell, as the dreams grew clearer, if this was her mission to follow.

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A/N: Well, what do you think? I've got the rest planned out in my head, but not actually written yet, so your reviews will certainly encourage me to do so more quickly!**


	2. chapter one

**Disclaimer:** Everything except for Gwen belongs to someone other than myself.

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**Two Months**

_chapter one_

Indeed, as time passed, the dreams became more detailed and were accompanied by an increasing sense of urgency, centering around the man. He was no longer just a face, although some nights only his intense emerald eyes, filled with agony and pleading wordlessly for her to do _something_, haunted her and caused her to wake up in a cold sweat. Other nights she saw an oddly-shaped vessel fall to the earth and the man, wearing a blue uniform that would've covered his entire body if not for the tears and burns that ruined much of it, lying sprawled out on the ground next to it with his eyes closed. Many times the dreams ended with blood and often Gwen awoke with a woman's shrill scream echoing in her ears. Always she had trouble returning to sleep once the disturbing dreams had awakened her.

The people in her village recognized the signs: the blood-shot eyes, her general twitchiness and her distracted air as she worked. All these pointed to a mind plagued by premonitions and so they gave her a wider berth than usual as they went about their days and eyed her askance whenever she walked by.

Then one night, one full cycle of the moon after the dreams had started, Gwen awoke because there was no dream at all. Snatching a fur off her mattress and wrapping it around her bare shoulders, she parted the flaps at the entrance to her hut and stepped out into the night. The cool autumn air caused her to shiver slightly, and she pulled the fur closer to her body but did not abandon her vigil, staring up at the stars until her neck ached. Even then she did not stop searching, her eyes continued to dart back and forth across the sky.

Finally, about three hours before dawn, Gwen saw what she had been waiting for. It started out as a tiny gleam in the sky far to her right. It could've been a star uncovered as a cloud blew past it, but it began to move rapidly closer, passing over her village trailing fire and smoke and dropping out of sight behind the tree line to her left.

Not wasting a moment, the young woman darted back into her hut, tossing the fur in the direction of her mattress. Quickly she dressed, tying on a skirt and pulling on a top she had made herself from the skin of _cerw_. She belted on her knife, stuffed a drawstring pouch with bread, dried fruit and medicinal herbs, flung on her cloak, draped her quiver over her shoulder, grabbed her bow and sprinted out of her hut and into the forest in search of the man who had occupied her dreams for the past month.

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"All systems green, Captain," Novakovich reported. "And _Enterprise_ has left the system."

"Great. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to pilot, crewman." Ethan readily gave up his seat at the controls to the captain, who slid into it with something like a sigh. "Aahh…thank you. It's good to be back at the helm. My senior officers never let me have such fun on away missions," he said, swiveling to look at Ethan so the crewman could catch the twinkle in his eyes that meant he was joking. Although the captain _did_ mean part of what he had said; it _was_ good to be at the helm again. He had graduated from the Academy as the top pilot in his year, but he wouldn't have earned that honor if he hadn't enjoyed flying – something he hadn't gotten to do much of since he became captain of the _Enterprise_.

Jonathan Archer skillfully manned the helm, easing the shuttlepod into the planet's atmosphere and enjoying the feel of flying again. Exactly ten minutes into the descent, the sound of an alarm beeping urgently and a red light flashing on the control panel interrupted their small talk. Archer glanced at the console in front of him

"There seems to be a problem with the engine," he stated as Novakovich stood and lurched forward. Another light began flashing and suddenly the nose of the shuttlepod dipped downwards at a dangerous angle. Captain Archer wrestled with the controls but quickly righted it.

"The engine's given out completely, sir," Ethan reported.

"Here – you take the helm," the captain ordered. "Just hold us steady; I'll see if I can't find the problem." Carefully the two men switched places as the shuttlepod hurtled toward the ground beneath them. "Got it?" he asked. Ethan was beginning to nod when, without warning – and before the captain could even begin to assess the problem – the engine came back on-line and drove them towards the planet below. Now it was crewman Novakovich's turn to struggle with the helm while the captain's fingers flew over the console.

"What the – ? It's not accepting my override codes! The landing gear still appears to be in working order though. We'll have to rely on its reverse thrusters to get us down alive!" Jonathan Archer had to shout to be heard over the alarm. "Initiating landing sequence in 3-2-"

The shuttlepod jerked forward again, the engines at full thrust, and Jonathan Archer was thrown to the floor in the back of the shuttlepod. He heard Ethan shouting "Captain!" and then all went black.

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A/N: I will be forever grateful if you took ten seconds to review, please!!**


	3. chapter two

**Disclaimer:** I own Gwen; everything else belongs to someone other than myself.

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**Two Months**

_chapter two_

Jonathan Archer awoke to a throbbing pain at the back of his head, and his body was stiff from lying on a hard surface, but he could not remember why that would be so. Although his arms and legs wouldn't respond when he tried to shift them, the fog about his brain did not permit him to get too worried, and so – not knowing any reason why he should do otherwise – he peacefully surrendered himself to unconsciousness once again.

He woke some time later – he did not know exactly how much time had passed – to be assaulted by oppressing heat, searing pain along much of his left side and the smell of his own burnt flesh. With a muffled shout, he jerked away from the fire and lurched painfully to his feet, grimacing all the while.

_We must have crashed,_ Archer thought, memories of the turbulent moments just before he blacked out for the first time coming back to him.

"Novakovich!" he yelled hoarsely, peering through the haze of smoke that separated captain from crewman. Archer could make out a limp form slumped over the console, but it showed no sign of stirring at his voice.

"Crewman Novakovich!" he tried again. "Ethan!"

The smoke began to sting his eyes as the fire crept closer to where he stood, and still Ethan showed no sign of having heard his captain. Casting about him, Jonathan Archer searched for something that would help him; a bright red canister caught his eye. It was packed full of flame-repressing foam, which had been specially developed by Starfleet for the NX-01. Fire was especially dangerous in space.(1)

Holding the canister at arm's length before him, Archer cleared a path to the main console of the shuttlepod and stepped carefully between the fires blazing on either side of him but saw that the fire had gotten there ahead of him.

_Probably it started there,_ some detached part of his mind noted as he gazed with horror at the scene before him. The charred flesh he had immediately smelt upon awakening had not been just his own; the body of Crewman Ethan Novakovich was going up in flames right before his very eyes, and he couldn't seem to tear his horrified gaze away. The greedy flames devoured what had once been a living man, and Archer watched, wanting to look away but somehow unable to.

It was the flames that began to lick again about his own boots that finally brought him back to himself. Swiftly, he killed those about his feet, then those consuming Novakovich, before turning his attention to the rest of the shuttlepod. After all the flames inside the pod had been quenched, he stumbled outside and put down a few small fires that he would have supposed – had he the time to stop and think about it – had started up on impact.

Finally, the adrenaline that had kept him going wore off, and his body reacted to the happenings of the last half-hour. Jonathan staggered a few steps, and his stomach heaved, bringing up what little food he had in him, images of his burning crewman filling his mind. Then he was assailed by a wave of pain and fell mercifully unconscious for the third time in as many hours.

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Gwen strode quickly through the tangled growth of the forest, never misstepping among the mass of roots beneath her feet, though it was still dark. The woods had welcomed her even when the people of her village had not and so she had spent much of her youth in the cool shade beneath the boughs of the _derw_, teaching herself to hunt and to heal and to gain some semblance of control over those powers within her that so scared the villagers. She knew the hidden trails of the forest just as well as she knew the much-trodden path from her mattress to her hearth to the entrance flaps of her hut. The forest was a second home to her; its trees had seen her grow from a girl-child into the young woman she was now. They had watched silently as she made her first kill – a small _gwiwer_ and hardly worth eating but a testament to her aim and skill with a bow nevertheless – and as she learned hand-to-hand combat and gathered the _perlysiau_ that aided her recovery after a difficult day of combat lessons. 

She had seen the general direction the…whatever it was…had been heading in when it crashed into the forest and trusted her gut to lead her more directly to it. And so she walked steadily onwards, sometimes having to double back when she felt she had missed the way but never pausing, even though the sun began to peek above the horizon before she caught the lingering scent of smoke on the air.

(1) I have no idea if this is true for the _Enterprise_. I read about the foam in an _Andromeda_ fanfic; I don't even know for sure if they really had it on the _Andromeda._ But I liked the idea so I used it anyway.

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A/N: I apologize greatly to all my faithful readers who have been waiting patiently for this next installment; I can only plead that I got distracted by two of my other works. Thanks also to all of you who have taken the time to review so far! And sorry to firebirdgirl and anyone else who developed a liking for Novakovich... Anyway, there was going to be more to this chapter, but I figured that y'all would want to read what I had now. So - please review and let me know what you think of this chapter, and also if you would prefer longer chapters or quicker updates!! **


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